U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,266 discloses a rolling bearing comprising an inner ring, an outer ring made in two parts, a housing holding the two parts of the said ring and a row of balls held by a cage. One of the parts of the outer ring, together with the housing, defines a space inside which an axially preloaded resilient element is housed.
This document also discloses a method of manufacturing such rolling bearings comprising the steps of inserting the rolling element into the associated cage and mounting this subassembly on the inner ring. Then positioning the two parts of the outer ring are around the row of balls, mounting this subassembly and the resilient preloaded element in an L-shaped housing having an outer cylindrical part and folding said cylindrical part over one closed space and one ring until it encloses said one ring and said rolling elements. Given the way these rolling bearings are manufactured, and particularly the fact that the housing is folded over to form a second radial plate, it is relatively difficult to guarantee the desired axial clearance or, the predefined axial preload. Furthermore, it is necessary to provide a resilient axial preloaded element, which adds to the cost of the rolling bearing. Patent application FR 2 945 090 solve these problems by proposing a rolling bearing comprising a housing made of two distinct parts fixed together. The housing comprises two radial flanges for axially retaining the parts of the outer ring and an axial cylindrical portion connected to one of the radial flanges and in radial contact with the parts of said outer ring and extending radially outwards by a radial projection. One of the radial flanges is fixed to the radial projection.
However, such a rolling bearing needs a specific reception hole for the rolling bearing having a stepped shape. Furthermore, when assembling such a rolling bearing, a slightly deformation of the outer surface of the axial cylindrical portion may modify the positioning of the two separate parts of the outer ring. Such a rolling bearing does not prevent solid and liquid pollutants from entering between the flanges and the radial projection.